Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to displaying data and, in particular, to a scrollbar providing status, progress, and length information in a graphical user interface (GUI).
Related Art
Many software applications present a scrollbar in a GUI. A scrollbar provides proportional position of displayed content and allows a user to scroll continuous content (e.g., text, pictures, etc.) when the full content does not fit a window or display. Typically, scrollbars are displayed on one or two sides of a window or display as a long, narrow rectangular area that contains a track, a bar, and arrow buttons at each end of the track. The track runs along one side of the window or display. A user may move the displayed content across the window or display, i.e. “scroll,” by dragging the bar along the track, by clicking on the arrow button, or clicking on an empty area on the track. Scrollbars that allow a user to scroll vertically up and down in a window are typically placed on the right-hand side of the window, while scrollbars that allow a user to scroll horizontally left and right in a window are typically placed on the bottom of the window. In a conventional scrollbar, the track of the scrollbar represents the full length of a text, picture, or any other continuous content, and does not provide additional information.
There are many instances where a user may want more information regarding content that is not currently displayed in a window or display. For example, in many applications or programs, there may be too many processes, operations, or items to be viewed conveniently on a window or display. The user may want to quickly view the status or progress of all processes, operations, or items, but making the content smaller to view all the processes, operations, or items in a window or display may make the text or image too small to be legible or useful. There exist applications with a minimap feature that displays a miniature representation of actual content and also provides the functions of a conventional scrollbar. However, the miniature representation on the minimap may be too small to be legible or useful, and does not provide status or progress information. Thus, the user may have to scroll to see the status and progress of the processes, operations, or items. This is inconvenient if the user wants to see the status or progress of all processes, operations, or items in one convenient location, and to jump to processes, operations, or items with a certain status.
Thus, a need exists for systems and methods that allow a user to conveniently view status and/or progress information on a scrollbar of a GUI.
Embodiments of the present disclosure and their advantages are best understood by referring to the detailed description that follows. It should be appreciated that like reference numerals are used to identify like elements illustrated in one or more of the figures, wherein showings therein are for purposes of illustrating embodiments of the present disclosure and not for purposes of limiting the same.